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Friday, December 21, 2007

SEE YA....

To Mr. Joe George:From Rumpole:See ya....wouldn't want to be ya.PRESS RELEASEFlorida Association of Criminal Defense LawyersFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:NEW PUBLIC DEFENDER SYSTEM DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONALCriminal Defense Lawyers Win Suit Against Governor and Legislators. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (December 21, 2007) Only one day after hearing legal arguments on the issue, Circuit Judge P. Kevin Davey issued a comprehensive opinion yesterday striking down Florida Law 2007-62. The law was passed in July in an attempt to create new, state-run conflict public defender offices in five regions throughout Florida to handle criminal cases from which the elected Public Defender was obligated to withdraw due to ethical conflict. In his opinion, Davey declared the law to be, “...an attempt to amend the [Florida] Constitution by legislative fiat.” “FACDL will also immediately begin contacting the Chief Judges of each Circuit to ensure that no person currently facing charges is adversely affected by the unconstitutionality of SB 1088.” To read the entire order from Circuit Judge Davey regarding this ruling, go to FACDL

15 comments:

IONQ
said...

Scene: Charlie Crist's Office

(people milling about reading the opinion where the FACDL just kicked the State's butt. The Governor comes marching in with a long stride and a purposeful look. Everyone jumps up and stands at attention.)

Governor Crist: Sit down everyone.How in the hell did this disaster happen?

( a bunch of bureaucrats stare at their shoes and some coughing is heard.)

Governor Crist: Never mind. OK. I'm going to fix this mess once and for all. CALL THE Q.

Dont think that this is ending here... Next session the legislature is going to try to screw us again, and they will unless the criminal defense bar does not get involved the process. That means get ready to donate money to those in power. And by the way, this does not effect the meager rates they pay us pcac attys. Much work is yet to be done!

But great work by the lawyers who wrote the brief.

Joe George, u sir are a moron. Go back to your shit practice...

And for all of you who crossed the line and signed on with that turd, merry x-mass.)

Amazing the lengths the defense bar will go to in an effort to protect their income.

Hopefully Richard Polin and his cohorts won't do their usual lousy job. Maybe they'll put the appropriate amount of time into this appeal since the governor is watching............that would be a nice change.

yes it is a mess, several dozen lawyers and staff hired around the state for an agency that is now deemed unconstitutional. does t his mean there should be 20 elected conflict officials for 20 circuits. just the cost of those elections is not worth it. thank you jac- for your ridiculous bureaucracy which led to an unneeded change. How about each pd refers cases out through the judges. 1. PD says there is a conflict. 2. Judge appoints attorney. 3. The State pays the attorney. Fee schedule: Misdemeanor 1000, Juvenile 1500. Felony 2500 for first 50 hours. Trial- paid 100 hour in court for felony, 50 per hour for a misdemeanor. Death penalty paid more. Life felony paid more than 2nd, 2nd more than 3rd. Raise the rates, cut down the paper,. You can submit your bill upon appointment, you refund the money if you don't finish the case. so if you get appointed to a juv. case you submit a bill and get paid 1500 now, not when the case is over. private people don't have to wait 6 months. So for the common case the attorney is paid quickly based upon his oath that he is a licensed lawyer and will be diligent. if he is not judges don't appoint. if he committs fraud he deal with bar, bar complaint by client etc. the JAC must learn from this that attorneys are not and should not be treated as lying cheating children when submitting a bill which is an insult to begin with- like 1500 in an armed robbery where the clent is facing life. how dare they have such a ridiculous bureaucracy to question a bill that cheap, 750 for juvenile, 500mm. the only time a bill should be scutinized is if it goes to trial or the attorney works for months and then it pleads and then he should have depos and motions to substantiate the bill. this is not rocket science. get your shit together, if the court system is treated like shit then what is next? it is 1/3 of the branches, start forking over money for it instead of casinos and sports.

No matter waht you hear, a stay has been issued. In the 5th, 7th & 18th Circuits I have already spoken to the Chief Judges and we are proceeding as is and as planned. I am sure the same applies in the 9th until further notice. The enclosed email is from the State advising me to continue. Until there is another order we are proceeding as planned everywhere, sorry for the confusion but personally I can tell you that I think this will be resolved by the legislature if not by the Courts. While obviously I cannot gaurantee anything I believe we will be here for the long haul. If you have any questions, don't stew on this Call Me. I'll be out until Wednesday but call, I'll call you back.

ps. The Miami Herald is wrong, the Supremes haven't done anything. It was some attention seeking Circuit Judge.

I think it appropriate to point out that the constitutional flaw identified by Judge Davey can be easily fixed by the same people who pushed regional counsel on us to begin with. As well, it wouldn't surprise me if Davey's ruling was stayed on appeal.

My point is this- FACDL continues to face an uphill lobbying battle against the concept of regional counsel.

(Note that I have no problem with the pre-sb 1088 system. I'm just pointing out that it's way to early to celebrate the end of regional conflict counsel.)

The Opinion seems to say that because the Constitution calls for the Public Defender to be elected, that the appointed conflict counsel is Unconstitutional. Pacificus asks does this mean that all private counsel appointed to represent indigent defendants must also now be elected? Can all those who were represented by private court appointed counsel and convicted now claim a 3.850 violation because their private court appointed attorneys were not elected?